Snacks shows off his

trophy and ribbons from his second gymnastics meet!

Daddy's Little Swimmer Girl

Can't keep this fish out of water!

Mommy doesn't always...

exercise good judgement.

Best of Friends

We spend a lot of time with Snacks' friend Jus and his family. One of the things we like to do is hang out at the zoo.

Recently we had our best zoo day so far. We spent over five hours exploring the new Russian Coast exhibit and the farm on a hot, hot day. We got popsicles to cool down and then the kids ran through the shower sprinklers out on the Northern Trail. They got soaked. It was a blast.

Raspberry Picking

We spent the day picking raspberries at Apple Jack's with Jus and Frankie and a couple of their friends. The kids had a great time and we picked (and ate) more berries than we ever imagined we could!

Listening to what Sissy has to say

is fascinating. She is adding words now like crazy.

Last week she put two words together on her own (I'm not counting, "I do!" because as far as she knows, that's just one word she learned from her brother that will get her whatever he has...). She's been running around saying, "My room,"--which she put together all by herself--since we swapped the kids' rooms last week.

Yesterday, Snacks Declared

that he was not, in fact, going to go to his new school in the fall...

because he doesn't want to practice wiping his own butt this summer.

Sometimes I Wonder

if she can really be my kid...

Sissy often turns down sweets for vegetables.

Sissy's First Haircut

was last week. I took her to my salon.

Here she is reading ladies' magazines while waiting for her turn:

In the chair:

And celebrating afterward with her victory Tootsie Pop:

Snacks Woke Me Up

from a deep sleep at 4 a.m. to ask, "What are we doing tomorrow?"

I think it's time I get him his very own calendar.

Running Through the Sprinkler

has been a favorite pastime this summer. Several afternoons a week, we end up in the front yard blowing bubbles and getting wet with the neighbor girls.

Almost Every Saturday Morning

for the past five years Kiki and I have met to walk around Lake Harriet followed by a bagel and Brueggers. Sissy has been joining us since she came along (Snacks is always invited, but he prefers spending Saturday morning hanging out and watching Spiderman with his dad...).

It's always fun picking out Sissy's special "Kiki-worthy" outfit.

If this is any indication

of what the Terrible Twos are going to be like, then we are in BIG trouble. Today before we went for a walk, I switched my orthotics from one pair of shoes to the other. Apparently, Sissy felt I chose the WRONG pair of tennies and this is what happened:

I mean, was it really THAT big of a deal that I switched from these:

to these?:

I mean, is she freaking KIDDING ME???!!!

Today I discovered

ANOTHER reason it's important to latch the screen door in the front (the first reason is that Sissy has learned to let herself out and wander off on her own)...

This evening, while I was sitting on the couch reading, Sissy was on the front porch saying "hi" to passers-by. Before long I heard the little girls from next door approach our front door. They said "hi" to Sissy and kept asking her if she was going to come out. Then they tried to bust her out. Luckily, I had remembered to latch the door so they couldn't just let her out--something I hadn't thought to worry about before--but they kept trying and trying while I just sat on the couch quietly listening to the conversation:

Sissy: "Hi!"

M: "Sissy, are you going to come out?"

Sissy: (silence--although there may have been nodding that I couldn't see)

M: "Are you going to come out?"

(Door is banging repeatedly while the girls are trying to pull it open to let her out.)

H: "Sissy, are you home alone?"

M: "Are you home alone?"

H: "Are you home all by yourself?"

(I have no idea what Sissy was doing at this point, maybe nodding, but I DO know that she had NO IDEA what the girls were saying to her... I kept waiting for them to say, "Is your mommy home?" Or, "Where's your mommy?" which she would have understood and could have answered, but they never did).

M: "Oh my gosh! She's home alone!"

H: "You're by yourself in the house?"

M: "I better go tell Mom that Sissy's home BY HERSELF!" (runs off to tell her mom)

But, alas, the pizza delivery man came just at that moment and ruined all my fun.

I PRETENDED like I bought this little guy for Sissy...

but he was really for me.

(Isn't he cute?)

This may be one for the record books

World's Largest (and Longest Lasting) Snot Bubble

(Yeah, I know it looks like the bubble's coming out of her mouth but, trust me, it's not.)

Sissy's newest pastime

is to stand on the back step, at the front door, or at one of our windows yelling, "Hi!" to the neighbors or any passers-by. She says it over and over until they are out of sight.

Here she is standing in our front window. She tossed the laptop off the ottoman and onto the floor and then used it as a step stool to climb up.

Obviously, she's been taking lessons from her older brother...

Summer Soccer

Snacks started summer soccer yesterday. He was really excited to play. At five, he is super focused on winning, even though I have been trying to explain that the fun is in the playing--it's not about winning or losing. This is a point that is totally lost on him, of course.

The first day of soccer went much better than the first day of T-ball, when Snacks hit himself on the back of the head with his own bat (the coaches forgot about the batting helmets...). At T-ball he was generally bored so he found his own entertainment by putting his glove on other kids' heads, kicking up gravel in the in-field, and wandering off the field so his dad had to keep running out to tell him to go back to his base.

Soccer was a blast for him because he got the ball a lot and the coaches had them constantly running.

So far, he loves it!

Snacks Loses His First Tooth!!

More Summer Fun

Yesterday Grampy took Snacks on the jet ski for the first ride of the summer. Snacks couldn't wait. He told everyone he saw that he was going on the jet ski later in the day, including total strangers.

While they were out on the lake, Sissy and I hung out on the swing in the shade enjoying the nice breeze off the lake.

Then Sissy got her first jet ski ride ever. She loved it and didn't want to get off.

After jumping on the trampoline and riding in the new jeep, we had Grampy's homemade strawberry shortcake for dinner with fresh homemade whipped cream.

Then it was time for Minna's concert at the park.